Camrose-area cattle ranch thinks big — and local

Most of Woodwind’s beef winds up in neighbourhood grocery stores

Cattle in Dave Solverson’s field at his Wood Wind Ranch cattle operation near Camrose, Alta.: May 12, 2011.

Photograph by: Candace Elliott
, edmontonjournal.com

Originally published May 17, 2011

EDMONTON - A lot of people think you have to buy from farmers markets, or small butcher shops, to shop local. Cattle rancher Dave Solverson – a big beef producer near Camrose – says think again. Virtually all of the beef he produces on his 3,000-acre ranch (including 500 acres near Athabasca) will be processed at one of two big slaughterhouses in Alberta, and from there, will show up in the meat coolers of major grocery store chains in your neighbourhood.

That is definitely local.

“A lot of beef at the grocery store comes from the big ranches,” says Solverson, an active member of the Alberta agricultural community and a big proponent of eating local. “We’re part of the supply chain … in fact, (a large ranch) is the most efficient way, because it gets the biggest value out of the animal. We’re able to take advantage of good genetics and gain every possible advantage.”

Gaining every possible advantage has been important to Dave and his brother, Ken, partners in Woodwind Ranch, a business begun in the 1950s by their parents, who still live on the original family farm just a few miles from Dave’s kitchen table.

The last 10 years have been difficult for people in the beef industry, due in no small part to the BSC crisis in 2003. But today, cattle prices are higher, and the farmers who were able to withstand the rough ride of the last decade without having to sell their herds have come out on top.

“We knew if we could hang on to our inventory, our equity would return, and that has happened,” says Solverson, 56.

Today, Solverson’s “inventory,” or herd, as the average Albertan would think of it, numbers about 2,000 head, including 700 mother cows. Solverson says Woodwind is one of the few Alberta ranches that still care for their stock from birth to slaughter. Cattle born on the ranch stay for about 18 months, through two grass-fed seasons, moving to a small feedlot right on the Camrose farm for the last 150 days to be grain-finished. (They’re fed a grain-based mixture designed to put weight on the animal quickly.) At about 1,400 pounds, the cattle are shipped for slaughter either to Cargill in High River, or XL Foods in Brooks.

Having a hand in the entire lifespan of the cattle is satisfying, says Solverson, who is on the board of both the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the Alberta Beef Producers, as well as chairing the CCA’s animal care committee. Though the early days of a cow’s life means hard work for farmers, it pays off.

“The high-intensity work is in the early stage, getting them off to a good start,” says Solverson, noting that calving is still the toughest time of the year for a cattle rancher.

But once the calves are born, tagged, castrated and sent into pasture, things ease up somewhat. That doesn’t mean farming still isn’t labour intensive and physically difficult throughout the year – Solverson broke three ribs last year when he tumbled off an ATV while herding cattle. The good news about hard physical labour is that it keeps you trim.

Watching Solverson tag and castrate a new calf helps explain why so many cattle ranchers are lean. He straddles the calf and seems to have three hands as he tags him, then castrates and disinfects the young animal, all the while fending off the nervous mother cow nearby. But other parts of the ranching business have become less laborious. Nobody uses a pitchfork to feed the cattle any more, and modern agricultural techniques, including swath grazing, mean that cattle can forage well into the winter. (Swath-grazing sees a swather used to cut cereal crops when they are green, and distribute them in rows so cows can root out the food, even when it snows, reducing the need to haul feed out to the animals.)

At the end of the day, Solverson also takes pride in the creation of an internationally renowned product.

“I’m proud of Alberta beef,” he says. “Consumers in Alberta have the opportunity to have the best beef in the world.”

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